Art Of Breaking
by innocent-rebel
Summary: How long can you hold on when pushed to the breaking point? Guy and his team are about to find out when they're forced to be part of a sadistic game. A game which threatens to shatter them all, and for Neji particularly, raise old demons. Rated for safety


Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any associated character. I only own OC's unless otherwise stated, though Tenten's past and Guy's original team belong to a good friend of mine who has let me use them for this story.

A/N: Hey guys, hope you're all doing well and with school starting up that the chaos remains to a minimum for ya. Wrote this story awhile ago, but never got around to putting it up here. So finally at a friend's urging I'm positing it. Originally it was published as the story 'Thicker Than Blood' on my Deviantart account, but I'm changing the name on this site. Also a few quick things. I know that in cannon Tenten does not have a blood limit, but with my friend's past I'm using she does have the same blood limit as Haku. If you want more information or links to her stuff just mention it in your review and I'll PM them to you. Aside from that, like I said I did write this story awhile ago some tiny details like things with the eight gates will be a bit different, but nothing huge. Anyways time to get onto the story! Please let me know what you guys think and most importantly I hope you enjoy it, for that is why writers write.

X

They were just supposed to be protecting a family. That's all they were told. Sure they knew that considering who the family was that running into bandits was bound to happen. Even enemy ninja were expected. But they never expected what they were facing now.

With a loud cry, Guy leapt up into the air then pushed himself higher with pure strength before flipping around and coming straight down in a corkscrew. He landed fist first on the ground causing the earth to buckle and explode from the pressure in huge waves that shot towards their opponents. Then he kicked off where he'd landed and raced into the wave of rubble, pushing himself off of smaller pieces and kicking the sharper and larger ones in front of the attacks coming at him.

"How are you holding up?" he yelled over the noise as he flipped backward, keeping an eye on both his partners and the family. Anko was currently fighting with several ninja who had encircled her, but soon found they were the ones trapped as large flames licked up around her and shot out in wild directions. The other ninja, a new jounin named Ukia, was deflecting any blows that came directly towards the family.

Guy landed back to back with Anko in the flames, snapping an enemies wrist as they tried to cut through before shoving them back.

"Well we're being attacked by a horde, the family's screaming their heads off, and these people won't die fast enough." the woman growled before she looked over at him with a smirk. "But I get to see you in action wearing that tight thing, so it all evens out to good."

Guy bit back a groan at the woman's comment. Anko. Of all the people who had to placed on his squad, Tsunade just had to pick her. He liked her well enough, and he wasn't foolish enough to ever doubt her fighting abilities, but she had a big mouth and was a notorious flirt. Whenever they fought together, she acted as if he wore what he did only to get her attention.

Fortunately she'd never done so in front of his students.

Despite the danger they were in, Guy smirked as he thought back to his precious students while keeping the enemy at bay as they launched attacks.

His students were grown up now, and had passed the jounin exams several years ago. A part of him wondered why they hadn't been assigned teams of their own yet, though age might have something to do with it. Neji and Tenten were now nineteen, and Lee was only a few months younger in age. They all seemed to be doing well, busy on missions, but never to busy they couldn't say hi to him and sometimes they all sparred together like they used to.

Guy didn't know if he'd admit it out loud just yet, but Lee might have surpassed him in Taijutsu already. Tenten had gained better control over her blood limit, and even fused new scroll techniques with it, and Neji had completely mastered his Byakugan. Now, if only the boy could get past his nervousness about what his family would think and ask Tenten to marry him.

His thoughts on his students were interrupted and quickly all his attention was focused on the enemy as Ukia let out a scream.

"MOVE!" he yelled and seconds later, several kunai blades shot through the air towards where they were standing. Anko and Guy were already leaping away and just as the kunai landed, the tags attached to them activated and swallowed at least ten ninja. Only half of which escaped. The others were now charred corpses melted to the battlefield.

"Any clue who they are?" Anko asked Guy as they both pushed off of huge boulders and crossed each other in the air, pushing harder and harder each time to create confusion.

"No." Guy looked down on them again. They might be blurs to their enemy, but his eye was sharp enough he could see past that. Whoever these people were, they wore no headbands, and had used no special jutsus to give them an indication of where they came from. They just kept attacking and increasing in number. Most were clones, but there were a good thirty real ones.

The strange thing was the trip had been going fine until they were at their halfway point. They hadn't even encountered bandits, and though they set up a watch every night there seemed to be no need.

Then they entered Demons Pass.

"We can't keep this up much longer!" Anko said as she grabbed onto Guy's hand as they finally had enough attention and went down with him performing the primary lotus. All the while fire raged from Anko's mouth being spread by the wind they created. Guy took the brunt of the fall as they landed and both flipped back up.

"What are you talking about?" Guy laughed, giving her a quick thumbs up. "We can handle them!"

Anko rolled her eyes.

"I know we can, but we have to get the family out of here. And in case you forgot, there's only three of us. I'd bet money our chakra can't outlast theirs." she said.

Guy nodded. She had a point. The battle had lasted for over thirty minutes and despite the fact they'd cut their number in nearly half, the large attacks required to break through their ranks were taxing on their chakra. Maybe Guy could hold up longer since he used mostly Taijutsu, but even he couldn't hold them all off while his team recovered.

"We'll grab the family and head for the way out. Ukia can carry two, and I'll grab the other one." Anko said as quietly as she could.

Guy nodded as ten more raced their way.

"On my mark!" he clenched his fists as he watched the others get closer. All of their faces were obscured by black hoods making it impossible to read them and their black clothes were so baggy that tiny movements or shifts were hard to discern. Still, he wasn't nervous. Numbers had given these ninja a certainty about victory that overshadowed their actions. Despite loosing a good many, they held onto to that arrogance.

Right when the ten hit a certain spot, just as their feet lifted an inch in the air to begin a leap, Guy gave the signal and threw down several smoke bombs. Instantly he and Anko were flying through the air and racing towards Ukia and the family. Ukia was a tall man, with a slender almost stick like build, blond hair, sharp green eyes and his bandanna was tied around his forehead. Now the normal blue cloth was a rusted red and blood trickled from shallow wounds on his arms and face.

Through the red haze though, he saw what Anko and Guy were intending to do and after Anko held up two fingers, he heaved the man onto his back and scooped the woman up in his arms. Anko landed for just enough time to grab their twelve year old daughter, and Guy came up behind landing hard enough that he caused another wave of earth to surge up and repeated this process as he slammed his fist into the canyon walls. They were still being followed but as they moved faster the others were falling further and further behind.

"I'm scared!" the girl screamed as she held onto Anko's neck.

"Aww, this is nothing! You should've seen the fight I was in last week!" she beamed. "There was..."

"I don't think terrifying her with details is going to help." Ukia muttered.

Anko rolled her eyes.

"Hey if she's thinking about something worse she won't be so scared of this."

Guy and Ukai shared a groan at the woman's logic. It never failed to confuse or disturb. Fortunately though, the further they got away from their attackers the less the girl screamed and her parents seemed to be calming down as well.

The canyon walls continued to explode behind them as Guy kept up his attack, burying the path in rubble and leaving cracks large enough in the sides that a simple kick would be enough to break the entire wall. They could all hear cries behind them as the remaining ninja tried to dodge the rubble, but some weren't fast enough. The sickening sound of snapping bones and cracking skulls echoed loudly throughout the pass. Haunting them all like ghostly whispers even after they landed outside of it in a large patch of dead earth.

"Well...that was fun." Ukai muttered as he let their clients down, then popped his shoulder.

"Indeed it was! To bad we couldn't finish things though. Now they'll be following us." Guy said, slightly disappointed that they couldn't finish things. He'd never enjoyed killing. It was part of their job, but he took no pleasure in taking someone's life. If the enemy fought honorably, there were times he even made a small marker for them, said a prayer and if nothing else was available, he'd leave a few blades of grass. But the fact this enemy could attack again didn't sit right with him. Not when the lives of his teammates were involved and...there was something else. He wasn't sure what it was, but he had a gut feeling something wasn't right about it. All of their powerful attacks seemed to be directed towards either Anko or Ukia, but they simply tried to isolate him...

He shook his head. He'd think on his feet, but right now they needed to get moving.

"Do you know who those men were?" the woman asked. Like her husband and daughter, she wore fine robes now covered in blood and grime.

"No. But if we meet them again we'll find out." Ukia said, wiping some blood from his face, and zipping up his vest. Despite the fact it was only the afternoon and the sun was high, the closer they came to their destination, the colder it got.

"But do you have any guesses?" the man asked as he followed behind Anko while, Ukia and Guy stayed on the side.

"Not really. Except the clones that were solid flesh and blood, they didn't use any special technique." Anko answered, then stopped, and turned. Her eyes were narrowed and flashing. "Do you have any idea?"

Both the man and woman shook their heads instantly, and the woman tightened her grip on her daughter's hand.

"No. I'm just nervous is all. I didn't mean to pry." the man said.

Anko nodded, but eyed them for a minute longer before turning around and walking again. From the corner of her eye shot a look at Guy and Ukia.

Guy shot her the same look back. He was starting to feel uneasy as well. Before anyone could ask something though, the woman turned to her daughter.

"Aren't you going to say thank you dear?" she smiled.

The twelve year old nodded and walked over towards Ukia, and gently took his hand.

He looked down at her a bit unnerved by the action.

Guy cocked an eyebrow as well. This family was supposed to be part of a dismembered class from the Land of Lightning. The story told was they'd been welcomed back, and were expected to make an appearance at the daimyo's court. Their political rivals would try to execute them on the way obviously, but that's why they had a team of Jounin to protect them. At the time they were assigned this mission, there was no reason to doubt their story. The political situation in the Land of Lightning had been slowly growing more and more unstable since some internal fighting broke out two years ago. Many families were forced to flee and many people who were once in power found their necks on chopping blocks.

This small action though...even if she was just a child, the girl never would have done something like this. Especially since Ukia was a male and Anko had been the one to carry her.

"I just wanted to say thank you." she beamed, giving his hand a tight squeeze. Not even a split second later though, her entire face twisted into a depraved sneer and her fist shot forward into Ukia's gut. He moved back just in time but a large blade had come from her long sleeve and stabbed him straight through.

"Ukia!" Anko whipped, shooting several kunai at the girl, but she was already moving away. Her blade slid out of Ukia, and his wound spurted in wild arcs of red as he twisted around. He tried to staunch the flow with his arm, and Guy was at his side in a second, but was then forced to move as senbon needles were shot at them from the woman and the man was racing at Anko with twin metal jo staffs he'd pulled from his own sleeves and began to attack. She deflected them with her kunai blades, but he was pushing her further back. Meanwhile Guy was kept on the defense as the woman launched more and more needles at him. He spun through onslaught of them, coming up and catching her under the chin with his foot. She went flying backwards, but flipped up just in time, landed on her feet and began charging at him, tearing her billowing sleeves apart as she threw more and more at him. Even adding tiny razorblades into the mix.

Guy snarled as he came at her, half his attention focused on her and the other half on Ukia. He was bleeding profusely and the girl was still attacking. She had two blades now and was swinging them around wildly. Ukia was able to deflect some of the blows with his arms and even hands, but she was managing more and more strikes.

Even if he was a new jounin, she shouldn't have been able to do that. Unless...Guy wondered if the girl wasn't really as young as she seemed, but older and more advanced. Whatever she was, one thing was certain: Whoever they'd fought with in the Pass must have just been there to wear them down for this moment.

The question was why?

"You're as fast as they say you are." the woman smirked as she continually blocked Guy's path to get to his teammates while the man held Anko at bay.

"You're wrong." Guy growled and as she came at him again he hesitated just seconds longer than usual, then came up and grabbed her outstretched arm before flipping up overhead and snapping it as he landed. "I'm faster."

She let out a scream of pain, but he didn't care as he twisted her around and slammed his fist full into her face, before grabbing her neck and throwing her into the man's back. He went down and Anko managed to slash him across the face, nearly blinding him.

Guy didn't focus on that fight though. Instead he shot towards Ukia, but just as he reached out to grab the girl's wrist, her other arm lashed out slashing the younger jounin across the throat. His eyes instantly widened and his blood spurted so far it struck Guy in the face. Ukia was dead before he hit the ground.

"No..." Guy didn't have a chance to say anything else as the girl turned her complete attention to him, slipping her wrist from his grip as if she were water and spinning around violently. He twisted and dodged and blocked with everything he had, looking for some kind of opening. He released the second inner gate and seconds before it disappeared, he found one. Two of his fingers struck her hard in the neck causing her to let out a gasping sound as she jerked back. She might look like just a child, but he wasn't convinced she was, and there was no reason to hold back at all. He went down on his hands and struck out with his feet, kicking her hard in her stomach before he flipped up and brought an axe kick down on her shoulder.

There was a cracking sound that followed and bone popped out of her shoulder. Her scream was louder than the older woman's, but instead of letting him have another chance she attacked again. This time she used only her left arm though and if possible seemed to be faster.

"We need to end this!" she yelled over at the man and woman who were now both focused on Anko.

"Hai!" the woman began performing several seals despite her broken arm, ducking attacks as the man took most of them. Not even seconds later, her hands began to glow hot white and she opened her palms. Rays of pure white light shot out and like claws grabbed onto Anko and bit deeply into her flesh. Energy coursed throughout her entire body sending her backwards and slowly forcing her to her knees.

"Anko!" he was not loosing two teammates today. He was not letting that happen. Running as fast as he could, Guy became a blur as he headed towards the woman disregarding the girl and her attacks. He landed right behind the woman, had a kunai to her neck and slashed it across. Red burst from the severed artery and the lightning inside Anko began to die. Before he could attack again though, Guy was struck by the man's twin jo staffs as they came down on his shoulders. Instead of just forcing him to the ground though, hooks shot out of them and bit through his vest into his skin.

Guy snarled as he slapped both of the staffs underneath, forcing them from his skin and ignoring the pain as muscle ripped from his shoulders. If they thought that could hold...he...what...

Guy's eyes widened then narrowed as he staggered back from the man. His mind was suddenly spinning and his breathing was coming in short gasps. What was...happening? He couldn't see straight and his thoughts were being switched around while flashes of bright pain shot through his mind and body. He felt as if someone had lit him on fire and then thrown him on top of hundreds of thousands of ice cold needles.

But he couldn't go down. He...his team...they...they needed him to stand. To keep standing. His legs were wobbling though. They were twisting and he could feel his ankle roll, nearly sending him to the ground. Every sound became magnified a thousand times and he was sure his ears had started to bleed. But...he...he no...

"Hmmm...high tolerance for poisons. I'll have to mention that." the man smirked as he came towards Guy, twirling his staff in one hand. When he was a foot away, he raised his arm and before Guy could put up his own to block it, slammed the metal staff down on the jounin's skull. Guy was unconscious before he collapsed to the blood smeared ground.

Anko cursed wildly as she watched this happen and tried to stand. Her legs wouldn't work though. The lightning had done something and she couldn't move. Then the man came over to her with the girl at his side.

"I'm not...afraid of you." Anko snarled and spat a glob of blood at the man's feet.

"Didn't think you'd be. That's why we let you live." he smirked as he took a small scroll from his sleeve and dropped it in front of her. "Deliver this to your Hokage. We'll be taking your friend with us." the man stopped midturn, then slammed his staffs down on Anko's left leg so hard the bone snapped and shards shot up through her skin.

Anko caught a scream before it escaped and bit down on her lip as hard as possible to keep it in. There was no way, she was going to let them hear her scream, or take Guy. It was impossible to move though. With a broken leg, the lightning's after effect and limited chakra, she couldn't even stand.

"Just so you don't get any ideas about coming after us." the man said, then walked over to Guy and after binding his wrists and ankles in iron cuffs, tossed him onto his shoulder.

Meanwhile the girl was pouring a mixture of bugs and chemicals onto the body of the woman who'd acted as her mother. The concotion began devouring her body immediately.

Before they left though, Anko forced herself to speak.

"If...all you wanted was a message delivered...why kill Ukia?" she knew asking anything else would be pointless.

The girl looked at her with a condescending smile.

"It doesn't take two to deliver a message."

That was the last thing either said to her before they turned on their heels and headed East; leaving their footprints behind in the blood soaked earth.

To Be Continued...

A/N: Hope you guys liked it. Please let me know what you think and have a great day.

Be blessed.

Your friend

innocent-rebel


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